We're Changing Everything. You Need to See This. | Tuffy Talk Live

Tonight is different.

We're not just talking NC State sports. Tonight, Tuffy Talk Live looks and feels completely different, new brand, new look, new energy, and a major announcement that changes what this show is going forward.

On the content side, NC State baseball's season is over and Elliott Avent's 30-year legacy deserves a proper send-off. We break down what he built, what Chris Hart inherits, and what the future of Pack baseball looks like. Then we shift to Justin Gainey's roster,NC State just landed New Hampshire guard transfer Comeh Emuobor, the frontcourt depth hunt continues, and summer workouts start next week. CJ Bailey is ranked No. 2 in CBS Sports' early 2026 preseason QB rankings — we talk about what that means for the football season. Plus the Friday night home opener is officially on the calendar.

But the real reason to tune in tonight is the announcement. 

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Enjoy!

Transcript

Welcome to Tuffy Talk 3.0 — The New Brand Unveiled

1:23

Yeah, this is this is this is how it should go. This is how it should go. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna kick myself out here then and introduce Puppy Talk 3.0, man. I'm gonna let Greg introduce our new member of the Puppy Talk crew, Mr. Ethan Berry. So Ethan popping. All right, what's going on, guys? I guess Greg, you're leaving this right now. So yeah, I was just trying to figure out how the music stops, but I guess it just does. Uh yeah, welcome. Welcome to a still trying to figure out edition of uh Tuffy Talk Live. Uh as Leighton alluded

What's New — Logo, Team & Content Vision

2:02

to, we are upgrading, we are changing with the times. We have changed our logo, we have added some new features that again we are still trying to work out. But most importantly, one we have Macon joining us. Good seeing you, buddy. Been a hiatus guy, is just uh becoming a dad, so I'm back. So it has been, it has been. Yeah, but just as important, we are adding a very brand new member to the Tuffy Talk team. Wolfpack Nation, if you uh if you're active on Twitter, you already know this guy. Uh, if you listen to if you've listened to IPS in the past, you know this guy, but he is now part of the toughy talk team, Mr. Ethan Berry. Welcome to the show, sir. I appreciate you, Joy. Appreciate you letting me hop on, Greg Leighton, yeah, once he's back. Uh yeah, look looking forward to it. Looking to looking forward to see uh see what kind of cool content we can put together. Yeah, big peps eight two is like, what's a toughie? He uh is not from around here, so um we can let you Google that. Just uh Google NC State mascot name, and that will answer your question, sir. Uh all right. So, like we said, we have Leighton back. Question mark? Back back in black for y'all. Sorry about that. It reminded me of like those TikTok videos where you just hear the chirping sound in the background from the fire or the smoke detector. So that was very uh on brand. But sir, now that you are back, uh I have just introduced the the world to uh Ethan. Well, you know, the world already kind of knew him, but uh yeah, just go ahead and talk through uh our new changes as Chilton has uh already put in the chat. Uh great opening song. That was the first thing that we've changed uh on the channel. And uh Leighton, what else do we have in store for the uh for the for the gang? Yeah, so I so one of the biggest things here for sure is we are taking uh the production level up, not just one notch, but two notches here. Uh, you'll see throughout the show tonight. Uh, we got uh these amazing segments that we're looking forward to. Some that you'll recognize if you're a Tuffy Talk follower, some are a little bit newer here as well. Uh, so we're looking forward to it and we're excited to dive into it here. Uh again, uh we'll kind of with these live shows, we'll kind of split just talking, you know, just normal Joe

Show Format Changes — Weekly Episodes & Live Show Structure

4:24

Schmo, what's going on, what are the highlights of the week, but also to talking a little bit of in particulars as well around uh these segments. So it's gonna be a lot of fun, but uh also to as well, uh we will also be having some premium uh members-only content as well. Uh, we actually have a Patreon that is already live. Uh so Mr. Ethan Berry has been working for a few weeks, uh, if not a couple months now, even Ethan, on this uh Patreon account. And there's been some pretty amazing content here already that we can bring right into this Tuffy Talk umbrella here. Yeah, looking forward to it. I think it's been actually I I got it up right here. It's been over a month. It's kind of surprising. Um but uh yeah, so I I've been posting um I I try and do about an episode a week. Um, excuse me, an episode a day uh during the week. And uh yeah, so sometimes there's been a little more, sometimes there's been a little less. Um but yeah, to me that's that's kind of the tip of the iceberg of uh of what we're gonna be doing. Um and so that to me, that's um you know something, something we'll work on. Um, like I said, right now you can expect uh three episodes a week on there, um five to three um with the toughie talk editions. And so um yeah, those will be on there, and we're gonna add more to it, right? Um kind of still working through those details, figuring out uh what exactly we want it to be. Um yeah, Patreon's gonna be a big part of it, obviously. Uh it's currently

Patreon Overview — What Subscribers Get

5:55

the name is still under NC State stats, so it's not under Toughy Talk yet. It will be. Um, but right now it is still NC State stats, and we'll be we'll be doing lots of different stuff on there. Um right now, I believe it's five dollars a month. You can also you know buy individual episodes that are on there. Um and so yeah, looking forward to kind of getting that started uh or or adding on to it, I should say. Like you said, lightning it's already been going for, I believe, about six six weeks now. Yeah. And and I I was messing with some settings, Ethan, so I didn't catch it. But did you kind of just talk about like what people can expect on there? Um like kind of features and yeah, so so what I've been what I've been focusing on, obviously, everybody knows you know how much I I love baseball. Um, what I've been going through, at least right now, what it looks like, is um basically a breakdown. I'll pull up a stat page or something that I'm looking at, whether that's stat broadcast, whether it's something from D1 baseball that I find interesting, you know, RPI breakdowns on Warren Nolan, um, or for basketball, who've done some player breakdowns from Bartorvik, Ken Palm, Evan Maya, that kind of stuff. So I'll pull that up and kind of walk through what I'm looking for, what I value, and what the stats are telling me um about an individual player. So that's what it is right now. And uh and like I said, uh we'll uh we'll look to add on to that. Yeah, I'd love to hear in the comments too as well, because definitely want to get the one of the biggest hopes

Introducing Ethan (@ncstatestats) — Official Team Introduction

7:19

here is that we get the comments uh rolling a little bit more now. Uh and so one of the biggest questions which I want to start off with is what is you know some things that you would love to see with this uh Tuffy Talk 3.0? What are some things that you love from Tuffy Talk 1.0, 2.0 that you would like for us to continue? What are some new things that you would like for us to do or try? Whatever it is, definitely put them in the comments here and uh and I'd love to get that here to start. Um, but yeah, Makon, to bring you in here, bud, uh, you know, just to kind of recap here for the folks, you and me, man, started this channel five and a half years ago. Uh and is it really five and a half years ago? Yeah, smart enough COVID quite a while. Yeah. I know, I know. Doing some math in my head here, but yeah, and and here we are, man. Tuffy Talk 3.0 and uh uh you know, new logo, uh new upgrade of logo. Uh, you know, still still the same uh logo that that your lovely actually created for us back again five and a half years ago. And uh again, man, it's uh it's exciting times. But again, we're gonna get back into as well some pre-recorded content. Probably not necessarily a two-part content like we used to have, but at least one pre-recorded episode a week, more than likely later in the week, as uh earlier in the week we'll definitely be leveraging a lot of content based off this live stream here tonight. Um, so with that being said, make sure to go give Ethan a follow. Uh, you probably already know his page if you're an ad NC State follower, but at NC State stats. And uh again, he'll be talking some things all things NC State, uh, all things tough you talk, you name it. So make sure to go give him a follow there. Um, but with that being said, uh, I also too wanted to throw in there as well uh that you know, obviously with us, uh, you know, we added Ethan here uh to uh you know kind of help help with the content here on the front side, but also too, we always are looking right now and some help with the back end side too, as well. So if anybody has any experience or any interests in uh helping with producing, helping with graphics, uh, you know, uh editing, you name it, uh definitely feel free to reach out to any any of us, yeah. You know, yeah, experience with social media. Uh reach out to Greg, Ethan, myself, and uh uh we'd love to uh speak with you about it. And uh again, just you know, help us take this thing up, uh, even three notches as well. So uh or if you want to have your business featured, right? Like if if you're looking to say, hey, sponsorships too. You know, I'd love to get the word out about my business, something we can definitely help you out with. Yeah, no, absolutely. Again, we will have these segments we'll show off here, and we got some others as well that will be sitting in the wings for future Tuffy Talk live shows as well. Um, so but plenty of opportunities for for sponsorships too, as well. So, yeah, just like Ethan said, if you want to uh you know basically plug uh uh any business that you have, uh definitely feel free to reach out to us. So with that being said, I have a uh I have a uh a fire line

Ethan's Role & What He Brings to the Show

10:14

problem here. So so guys, I'm gonna hand it off to you for here for a little bit, all right? So y'all have fun. Sounds good. All right. Uh I say we just uh get into the tweet of the weeks. I I always love some good tweet of the weeks. And uh let's uh let's get right on into it. All right, the Chris Hart era has officially begun. Um, I don't know why it's showing the way it's showing. There we go. All right, cool beans. Uh as many know, the Pac-9 season came to a an end, if you will, over the over the weekend down in Auburn. And uh that uh that that's all she wrote for Ray at Avent. After 30 years and 1,100 career plus wins at NC State, he has officially turned over the torch to Chris Hart. Ethan,

Elliott Avent Legacy — Final Thoughts on a 30-Year Career

11:06

I'm gonna start with you since you're the baseball guy along with myself. What is and and look, and we're not gonna get too far into this, obviously. We want to have a pretty much a whole uh episode or so or two dedicated to the season and and a couple of things as we're we're kind of kicking around to to do as a uh pre-recorded episode. But initially, just are you ready? I'm ready. Are you ready? I'm ready, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think um I mean we're glossing right over the regional, right? Like, I feel like we gotta get some range. We'll get into it. Yeah, we'll get into it. We're doing Twains of the Week first, but yeah. Yeah, I I'm I am like I I think it's hard to believe. Uh it's been 20 plus years that Chris Hart has been at NC State. Um, and to me, like people always say you don't know Elliott Avamp baseball without you don't know NC State baseball that earlier, right? Yeah, and it's kind of the same way about Chris Hart at this point, you know, like he's been here that long, 20 years. He's only 46, but he looks much older. So that's what pack baseball will do to you. It will premature gray you, like nobody's business. We we won't tell him you said that, Greg. But uh but yeah, yeah, I I think I think so. Like he's ready for it, he's yeah, turned down numerous, numerous opportunities. Um, and you're happy for it. You know, you can get into the debate of should he have been the hire, but ultimately, like you're you're looking forward to it. He's been a huge reason for this for the success, the consistency the state has had, and it's certainly he's earned the opportunity. I don't he can't really say much else about it at this point. So um looking to see what kind of tweaks are, like I I don't think this is as you said, like we could we could probably do two hours on this, then we will at some point, maybe not two hours, but um and we'll give it to him. That's right. You're not looking for him to overhaul everything you're doing. I think you're looking for minor tweaks here and there. Yeah um and I think he can do that. Yeah, I think again, uh I I'll get to you, I'll get your thoughts here real quick, Making. But for me, it's uh like you don't need to fix recruiting. Recruiting is is good. Uh pretty much everyone that you see on this roster, especially those Florida boys, like Chris Hart's DNA is all over that. Um, for

Chris Hart Era — What Changes Under the New Head Coach

13:18

me, it's the day-to-day stuff, what will look different? Uh, some of his assistant coaches, what will that look like? Because obviously you have to replace him as an assistant coach. So you're bringing on at least one person, right? Whether you're elevating Bo Robinson up into that position, you know, like a third base coach, or you're bringing someone in from the outside, uh, are you hiring within? Again, we'll we'll get into that when we do a deeper breakdown. But Macon, uh, you know, you you are a state grad, and I'm sure you went to plenty of games while you were, you know, a student there. Uh like you and Ethan don't know any other coaches. Uh me, I barely remember Tanner or Ray Tanner uh before uh Coach Avant, but most of our audience doesn't know any coach other than Elliot Avent. So for you, what does this mean? It's just a it's a it's a big it's a chaptered term for NC State baseball. But at the same time, I think the big thing here with Chris Hart that Ethan touched on is to me the word icon, it just is stability. Like the program has done so well for so long. Uh has they reached the mountaintop? I mean, if you want to call Omaha the mountaintop, they haven't won it. They got, you know, um that stolen from them probably in the 2021 season, or well, I think it's 2021, but um, you know, they've they haven't gotten there, but they have been consistently a really good baseball team, and a lot of that has to do with Chris Hart. And uh for Avant not being there anymore, I mean, he's probably gonna go down as one of the most beloved coaches at NC State. Um, his his loyalty that's kind of been a theme on the social media and supposed to meet the world over the last year or so with other changes in NC State's administration coaching staff and players now with the transfer portal. And this guy's been here for three decades. I mean, um consistently uh made his program what it is. Um, if we can maintain that stability rolling into heart, that's fine. It's just it's gonna feel I it's gonna be somewhat different because the it's almost like Avon was almost like a mascot of the team too, at the same time him being a coach because everybody loved him. So um I'm I personally when they when they went that quick to Hart, I personally was like, man, they're not gonna look anywhere else. But that should

NIL, Revenue Share & What NC State Baseball Needs to Compete

15:36

be a statement of how Boo and the rest of the athletic department view him as an assistant. They could state's a really good program. A lot of mid-major coaches, probably maybe some high majors, I don't know, would would love the NC State job, and they they just keep it real quick internal because they know this guy is as good as he is. So um, you know, I will miss Elliott event. Um, it'll be just totally different. They do like the fifth inning interview or whatever it is, not hearing him talk or seeing him do the B button or throw the hat or whatever. But you know, it'll be uh it's time, it's time, right? So yeah. And again, we'll we'll have much more on this probably in the next week or so. Um, we'll break down everything from you know how it kind of went down, uh, you know, how much is he going to make, like what's his contract look like, what a staff look like. We'll get into all of that. So uh there'll be plenty of time to get on with that portion. All right, moving on to the next tweet of the week. Uh, this comes from uh Pac Power or yeah, Pac Power 247. I keep forgetting they changed your name. I just want to talk about this for a couple of minutes, uh, see kind of get your guys' thoughts uh on on this, you know, what what do you buy into it? And uh basically the the gist of this tweet was that Athlon does their annual ACC anonymity uh survey. Uh so they talk to, I guess, players and coaches from other universities, and the sentiment basically was that NC State doesn't have the money, the NIL, Rev, Rev share, however, you want to break that portion down to compete uh for championships. And Megan, I'll start with you uh on this one. Kind of do you buy into that first off, do you buy into this narrative um that NC State doesn't have the money uh to compete for championships, not only in the ACC level, but again on the national stage? You know, I think honestly, I think there's some, you know, there's always some grain of truth to that. I think to some degree. Like, are we regularly competing for AC championships? No, I think we would we want to be, and uh, we've been really close at times, and I think that's the key part. We've been right there at that mark. A lot of times, uh just missing it short, losing like

NC State Athletic Department Investment Discussion

17:52

you know, the Maryland game a decade ago to get there. Um the game uh two years ago we lost, we could have been in the championship game. Um to me though, the the commitment that the Athletic Department commitment revenue sharing to the NIL, um I mean it could always you could always proportion it to be more for football. Um and but I think with what they've done, with some of the strategies they've had, they've done a pretty good job of being competitive. However, I do think there is room where we could we could always invest more. And I think there's I wonder, honestly, I wonder there's some of the some fans at times view it as like, well, it's not somebody else will take care of that part of the contribution, and it's like it's I don't want to invest. Um, I've heard some folks that I know who are contributors or uh big time and donors to stay, and they just kind of just the inside scoop. It's like there's a lot more I think that sometimes we can be doing as a fan base to help support the athletic department. Um, but I do think we have room to compete. I do think though, if we want to be on that championship level, uh there probably does need to be a a bigger investment, but it's a matter of does the athletic department view that as being the direction we want to go? And um, you know, there's the whole are we a football school, basketball school? People have always had that debate. Why can't we be both? Some people have argued. I I would um I would think there is some room for growth here. I don't I wouldn't say we can't compete. Um but there's there's other teams out there that have, you know, like Miami. Miami has made a huge financial investment into their athlete in their football program, and they have done really well in the last three years or so to kind of get them back up to that top level of ACC as an example in mind. Um so that kind of thing's gonna matter. We lose Greg Megan. I think we did go on. What do you think, Ethan? What do you thought? Yeah, for me, like this is such a big can of worms, and you kind of got into it like football school versus basketball school. I I don't know. I don't think state has the funds right now. And and I think a little bit of that is by choice. You you know, you could say, hey, we're gonna put all of our money

Basketball vs. Football — Where Does NC State Prioritize Resources?

20:12

into football, but then what does basketball look like? Right. What does women's basketball look like? We know that's a sport that NC State values. What are the other, you know, to a lesser extent, like what do the other non-regantant sports look like? Yeah, I I I think you absolutely have to choose. And I think if I'm being honest, I think state chose basketball. I think state chose basketball when they hired Will Wade, and then you kind of had an opportunity to maybe reset after one year uh with Wade leaving and say, hey, do we still want to continue going down this road? Would we rather go to football? No, I I think state is content's not the right word, and and I don't think like the coaching staff use it like this, but I I uh I think they've said, hey, we we view ourselves as a team that can compete for championships in basketball, and that's a little more far-fetched in in football because I think financially it is so much more important as you look at football, and so to me, like you know, those quotes are are kind of spot on. Like, I like I don't think they really have the funds to compete at a high level in ACC. Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah, a hundred percent. Like, I that's not a knock on the staff, it's not a knock on the players. I think that's just kind of where NC State is. And look, I I know some people are like, oh, you can compete in both. My challenge to you would be to look around the country and say, who are the teams that are competing at at the highest level at both? Yeah, it's a it's all this, it's a small thing. And if they do, they've got really deep pockets. Yeah. Well, even to even to the point, some of those programs are in debt. Like yeah, look at the Clemson article that came out like a week or two ago. Like, they're like one and a half billion in debt, or something like that. What? Yeah. There's definitely a crazy number, like, yeah, but yeah, there's definitely schools in the in the fifties and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. Like, like they're and I'm talking big programs. Too like I want to say LSU might even be one of them, to be honest with you. Yeah, so I was looking up here, it's at least uh this article I'll pull it up here, but I saw an article that says uh they've got an outdening outstanding debt reaching over a billion dollars. Wow. Well, and who was that Clemson? Clemson. Well, and and some of this is just your school business model, right? Like I think some of it, the kids aren't going to colleges. Uh, you know, these tuition rates are outrageous these days. I think it's I think it's more than just a a sports thing. It's it's it's it's the whole college model, if you will, which is you know driving all of this. Um, you know, you need you need that revenue. You're seeing these uh these schools charge more for these these fees, right? Uh these these user fees or whatever they're called, uh, to go to games and tickets and all of that stuff. Like those those numbers are getting into the thousands of dollars now. Like it's it's absurd that they're they're passing, you know, in order to be competitive uh in sports, they're passing that off to the student body, which is insane, right? Yeah, um,

Football Segment — KJ Caldwell Commit Discussion

23:00

yeah. But anyway, we can we can definitely get more into that in in the summer months. But I just kind of wanted, you know, this was fresh, came out today. I just wanted your guys' thoughts, but uh we'll move on to the next tweet. Uh this one's always a good one for me. I think uh, you know, if if you follow NC State football, you're always wondering who's who's wearing number one. And you know, you you can go on from the Jalen Samuels to uh oh my goodness, Caden Fordham, I think was the last one to wear it. And Isaiah Mora. Isaiah Mora's exactly where I was going. Yeah. Um it's a real honor. And is and it's not to the most athletic person on the team, or the you know, the most talented, if you will, but it's the it's the biggest teammate, if you will, the one that embodies the the strength and and what NC State football means. And that honor this year goes to Duke Scott, uh running back. Uh, I guess he's a uh what is a red shirt sophomore now. Um Ethan, uh, I went with Makon the first last time, so I'll come to you. What what does this mean? Uh first, just talk about like we we've had Duke on the channel uh right after he committed to state. And I mean, there as a 18-year-old young man, like he was so well spoken, and like you could just tell that, you know, if you could envision three, four years later, like at that interview, you could have seen, like, yeah, that guy, that that guy definitely has a chance to wear number one. Yeah, yeah, I I I think you're you know, you're looking for somebody who embodies

Duke Scott — NC State Football's Man of the Year

24:33

the program that NCC wants to have, and I think Duke Scott kind of fits that to a T. You know, he's probably a year younger than you would think about probably saying, Hey, this is the guy to give it to. But you know, in the transfer portal era, I think that's kind of how it shakes. And so yeah, you know, it makes sense. He's in year three. You mentioned redshift sophomore. He is in year three. Um, obviously didn't play year one and and uh backup role last year, but uh yeah, I I absolutely something that uh that he's earned uh and uh we know say values him a ton. Um and obviously that's hard worker on the field, yeah. Hard worker, and uh you know, I think the number kind of represents what he means off the field uh to the program. And uh, you know, I think that's that's what this tells you. Yeah, absolutely. Uh Nakin. Yeah, I I think this is I think it's indicative of what he's done in the off-season and what he means the program. I'm not gonna try to I could just rinse and repeat what you guys have said, but I just think it's indicative of what he's also done this offseason um and how the staff projects him probably to make an impact for this team this upcoming season. So yeah, that's that's my thoughts there. Yeah, I mean, and we we talk the last thing I kind of want to talk about him is like with his work ethic. Like, if you look at him, and he was already a pretty good-sized dude when he came in as a true freshman, but just to see his body transformation, like that tells you how much work he's putting into it, right? And that's kind of what you want, you know. Um, you know, is he a vocal leader? Is he a leader by example? Is he a combination thereof? I I don't know personally, uh, but he he's one of the hardest working guys that I know. Um, and that he will give you everything and then some. So I I'm super excited for Duke this year, uh, not only in this role in honor, but then just to see what he's gonna be able to do on the field. Uh, I think he's he's prime for for a massive breakout because he was kind of busting at the scenes, especially in that Georgia Tech game and then in the bowl game as well. Uh, he he really he really showed off. So it'll be uh there's kind of tangent here. What I it could be really interesting to see. I'm curious what you guys thought of how the run game will be different

Hollywood Smothers vs. Davion Gause — RB Comparison

26:41

this year with him as the RB1. You'd no more um smothers, you know, right? So it'll be interesting. I imagine you know, Bailey, they're gonna use a lot, probably put a little more weight on him running the balls. I'd be curious to see what that dynamic is, especially with you know him being uh the focal point of the running game. I I think it's gonna be more of a power game. Uh, I think, you know, uh do Duke is like weird, not in like a oh my god, he's creepy weird, but like he has that unique speed and strength. And so like when he gets through the hole, hey, it's Monday. Uh uh when he gets through the hole, he has breakaway speed, right? And that he he's a very patient runner. You're not gonna see him doing all the juking and dancing that you got from Hollywood. Um, I think he's gonna be a more vertical guy, but yeah, I think I think it's just gonna be a different game. And then I believe the the guy we brought in from Carolina is kind of the same mold, too. Is that a true statement? Thanks. Yeah, uh I'm I'm getting older. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I I I think it's you're less explosive, quite frankly. Like Smothers, it was like, okay, get him out in open space and see what he can do. Now, as you said, Greg, it it's a power power running offense between the tackles. Um, yeah, I don't think you're gonna see the the same breakaway speed from Scott from Gauss that uh obviously some others had, right? And so uh, you know, can you find those explosives somewhere else? That's something I'll be looking for. But uh yeah, it's definitely two very, very different running backs from uh from what Smothers gave you. But I think you're you go you're going into it with Scott as as your number one guy, clear number one guy ahead of Davion Gauss. And then uh you kind of see what it looks like from him, but kind of like you saw last year, if Smithers can uh Smothers could take 20 carries a a week, he was getting them. And then uh you know ended up getting dinged up a little bit late in the year. But I think it's gonna be the same thing with Duke Scott. It's gonna be hey, if you can take 20 carries a game, here you go. Have them. I think you're gonna get a little bit more too in the passing game from Duke Scott than you did Hollywood Smothers. Uh I think I think I think I mean Hollywood had some drops last year. Maybe more productive, more productivity. I like I think they funneled a lot to Smothers, and I don't know that the efficiency was uh at the level you would like. So maybe your efficiency is up and the and the volume is down a little bit, maybe. Yeah, I think your all-purpose yards will be kind of similar because again, I think what Duke's gonna give you um in the passing game, but you know, hey, we'll figure it out and we'll see here in about 90 days. We'll be kicking it off. Actually, I think a little under, to be honest with you. Not that I'm counting or have my passport ready. Um, okay, next tweet of the week game times. And I don't want to spend a lot of time here, but one takeaway I wanted to

Football Schedule — Friday Night vs. Saturday Games Debate

29:32

to to ask you guys, uh, actually two questions, and and I'll start with you, making do you like the more Friday games? Um, I I know what Dave Dorn's answer is here. Um, but do you like the Friday games where you you're the only game in town, and then Saturday you can just sit on the couch and watch everybody else? And then two, do you think, and again, I don't know how much of this NC State has in the schedule building, like as far as how they're able to negotiate through when they play, if they have a lot of stay. I know there is some say, uh, because I've talked to Boo before, like they put the kind of their preferences in. But do you think we're getting more Friday games on purpose to drive up viewership in order to get Rev dollars? Well, do you you made a little tidbit there? If the staff is kind of saying we do give preferences, that's curious to me of why we're seeing a regular dosage of Friday night games for us. Um, so that that probably has a little bit of influence there. But I think to your your big point, um, I think there are pros and cons to both. Personally, I lean towards the I I don't like it. I personally I like the experience and the atmosphere you get the whole day of a football game when it's on Saturday, where versus Friday, you know, people you're dipping into people being at work who can't be there until a certain hour. Um, and then uh, you know, um, you got I know Dave Doran's talked about how much it just as they are. We have a seven grinds our gears, it grinds his gears about uh cutting into high school football Friday nights. Like recruits have a hard time being able to get there for Friday nights. And to that point, is it as big a deal now with the transfer portal? And that's a fair point. Yeah, that's a fair point. I think though the the pro, I think, to that to having on Friday nights is I'd be I be there's a viewership, the revenue you get from that. I'd be curious to see what kind of number that actually is. I I'm not gonna pretend like I know that number. Um so it it I hope it's incentivizing for us to play Friday nights because otherwise, what's the point of playing Friday night? But yeah, um, but yeah, I I I prefer to have it Saturdays. Um I think just purely for the atmosphere from a fam standpoint, but from a staff recruiting standpoint, I think it also helps because you

Recruiting & Home Game Scheduling Strategy

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can probably get guys in on the on the Saturday better than you can a Friday night, whether it's you know, transfer portal guys or high school. So I just think there's more benefits there to having a Saturday, but I sure hope the re the revenue we get from having a Friday night game is worth it. Yeah. Yeah, a couple uh a couple of comments here, and then Ethan, I'll get your thoughts on this. Uh Michelle is definitely a pro Saturday. Our guy, Steve Young, he's he he puts it here pretty good, uh, pretty well. He goes, uh, Saturday is better than Friday, Friday is better than Thursday. Yeah, I I I agree. I think it's a little easier. You can take a day off on a Friday and then get your tailgate on. I again, it is limited to for folks with certain lots being open, like if you're in the Cardinal Gidman's lot, uh, there's some restrictions there. So totally get it. Um, but yes, I agree with Steve. Saturday is the best, Friday then Thursday. Um, but Ethan, what are your kind of what are your thoughts on on this? And and and do you like like for me, uh since I'll be flying out to Stanford personally, I love a Friday game because then I'll take the red eye back on Saturday morning and then I'll be home by one, two o'clock and still get to watch football on Saturday. But but for you, what what do you what do you prefer? I I'm with you. I like being able to watch games on Saturday. Um you know, like the tailgating definitely isn't the same on on Fridays, but um for me, I I just it love being able to watch on on Saturday. And there's nothing better if you win, you know, if you lose, you know, you're grumpy and it's like, man, do I really want to watch football? What's the point of sports, all those kind of things? Right, questioning every life decision. Exactly. But if you win, it's like, man, this is the greatest, the greatest feeling in the world getting to watch other teams um you know play and and how do they impact you and things like that? So um, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at. I'm not super, you guys bring up a good point about recruiting, but I'm not super yeah um uh opinionated here one way or the other. What about from a rev take? Do you think like like there's some aspects to you know maybe sneaking in a couple extra bucks from the Rev share for viewership? Like, do you think that's yeah? Well, yeah, I mean, I guess because you're probably getting a better a better network, right? Like if you're playing, like let's let's pull up Sanford for example here, like you're getting a 1030 slot on the SPN. Yeah, I I don't again, what's the difference in dollars? We don't know that, but right, yeah. I don't know about what's your right, what's your alternate TV slot on Saturday? Is it right ESPN already on the ACC network? Is it or ESPN the Ocho, right? Yeah, like right, right. Is it ESPN U? Is it maybe it's ESPN too? So I I think getting to be on the main ESPN channel um certainly has the benefits and and hopefully you know financially. Yeah, agreed, agreed. All right, moving on over. I think it's time for a basketball tweet here. Um, officially signed, and I apologize because my screen

Jacari Brim Commit — Local Ties & Backcourt Role

34:36

is so small because I have everything I've got to do. All right, bring thank you. Uh local kid, uh right, is this one local? Because I know what the one from New Hampshire was. He's from uh I think he is. Let me check that. I can check out I thought he was a Raleigh kid, but I could be wrong there. Yeah, um, but you're bringing him from App State. Uh Winston Salem. Winston-Salem, thank you. Yeah, the new New Hampshire kid definitely was um Raleigh. But uh, you know, bringing in uh just kind of filling out your your your roles here. Uh I I would be shocked to see you know a lot of playing time. Uh his NIL is probably seven basketballs and uh some uh athletic tape. So you know, you probably got him on the cheap. And uh I think it's you know it's a good it's a good it's a good signing. Uh again, uh you know, Justin Ganey wanted to bring in local guys to kind of you know build out his roster, and you know that this fits that bill. But uh Ethan, I'll I'll start with you on this one. Uh just kind of give me your thoughts on on you know what you expect from from Mr. Brim here. Yeah, filling out the roster. Um I I don't think he's a guy you expect to be in the rotation. There's probably some traits that state likes somewhere. Um, you know, whether it's athleticism, maybe they like his shooting, but you know, played minimally at App State last year. Um and hey, good for him, right? You go from not playing at App State to now you're at NC State, like that's that's great for him, you know. Um, and so we'll kind of see. Uh obviously he's kind of he's gonna be cool with uh with a back end of the bench role. And if you're NC State, I think you're hoping over the next year or two you can potentially develop him into a uh you know rotational piece at the back end of your rotation and go from there. Um but yeah, right now I you know not a guy you certainly have any expectation of of being in the rotation for. Yeah. Um I I do know that uh you you and James broke this down about a week or so ago, and and you stood up for the fine university of Appalachian State. He was kind of dismissing their their degrees, if you will. I don't know if you remember having that conversation, but yeah, I do now that you bring it up. Yeah, I I liked App State. No, it's fine. My second school that I like uh it was your fallback school. It wasn't

Full Basketball Roster Breakdown — Who Plays Where

36:50

it wasn't even fallback, I was going to App State until NC State offered me more money. Sure. So sure. Um I'm just boone's a boon's a great like yeah, it is. I'm just saying that I was like, man. I'm just uh giving you a little uh hazing as your as your incoming night. So you know, it's like almost like freshman hazing, so just uh giving you a little bit there. Uh Makin, I know you're a basketball guy and and I and I know you you follow this stuff closely. Uh what what are your kind of thoughts here on this signing? You know, my thought honestly is what if you know, is it's not gonna be guys not gonna be playing much at all, like to what Ethan said. But I think I'm curious, you know, if you've got Preston Edmund, who you would rightfully suspect to be your starting one, uh you got, you know, you you probably got guys like Christian Hammond, he can probably play on the ball if you really need him to. But I'd be curious because you've got him and Mobor, um, who you brought in. At what point who's gonna be the preference there at like an emergency point guard role for state? Um, I'm gonna be really curious about that. Uh if they get into a pinch, but I think that the cream of rice, the the top there for between those two guys. Um uh, you know, I know Mobile was in New Hampshire, like you mentioned. This guy was at App State, didn't play. Uh, I think Mobor, I think, actually did play a little, played some at New Hampshire. So um I'm just I'm just gonna be curious about that, honestly. That's that's kind of the only thing I'll add is who gets the preference there at like the emergency backup point guard spot between uh mobor and brim. So yeah, can I answer your question, Megan? Yeah, go for it. Neither. I think uh Kingston Witty right now. And I think we're I think we're talking three guys who are currently not in the rotation, right? I think you're looking at Darius Adams as your uh quote unquote bench guard. Um, and then these three guys like I don't view Brim to me. Brim is out of those three guys, Witty, Brim, and I don't even know how to pronounce his name. Um Emobor. I looked up an interview and I think it was Emobor's how somebody pronounced it, or something like that. Yeah. But and this is something I had wrong about a Mobor War 2. I figured he was an on-ball guard. He's not, he's more of like a he's closer to like an RJ Keen off the ball guy. Um, yeah. So, you know, if you're breaking it down that way, Brim is more of a guard, um, than a mobor. But I would think that Kingston Whitty is probably which is interesting. You think they'll lean towards the the high school guy when in a transfer portal world, they'll lean to him versus Brim, who was at absolutely he didn't play, yeah. I and I don't think you're wrong, it very well could be because I because what because I was saying Wins Witty has some traits on film on Huckle that do that do pop. So um, but yeah. It it will be uh by the way, I don't know if we have you and I ever talked about this eating, but Ethan, but Witty is actually cousins with uh Sherman Johnson. I don't know if I told you that. Oh, is

Baha Mar Bahamas Championship Discussion

39:41

he? Okay, yeah, they're cousins. So interesting. Um if that lineage is good, then we should be in good shape there. Um but yeah, it it it will be interesting to see some of that plays out because again, you know, we thought some of the roles were gonna be different on last year's squad, and you saw guys that weren't really as valued highly becoming pretty intrical pieces to the to the puzzle, right? Because we we definitely thought that Khadir was going to be more of like a six guy off the bench, and he ended up you know kind of being being the guy. Um, but real quick to answer Michelle's question here um about uh about the scholarships and walk-ons. Uh guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there are no more walk-ons, it's all scholarships based off of Rev Share and all of that stuff. Does does some I know that way is that way in football? I would have assumed it was in basketball as well. Does anyone know anything different about that? So the way I understand it, maybe somebody else has it differently. They they now have 15 scholarships. Um, and so if you were to go past 15, then you would have to have those players not be on scholarship. But previously it was 13. Correct. So you would have 13 and then two or three maybe walk-ons. Um, so now technically you can still have a walk on, you could still have a walk on, technically, but but you're carrying too many people at that point, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Um, cool. And then uh Mr. Jones says Boone's traffic sucks. Yeah, I'm a lot of places traffic sucks. Yeah,

Tweets of the Week — Sponsored by Alpha Wolf CPR Training

41:08

it's gotten really bad in places. Um, I know I want to do one more tweet of the week. I know you're back late and so let's get through this last tweet here. I think it's kind of an interesting one we can spend a couple minutes on because as it relates to the schedule. Um, we have a date and location for the matchup of uh Tennessee men's versus NC State men's basketball. It'll be held at the Bridgestone Arena on December 6th. Um, that is a neutral site. And I this only reason I wanted to bring this tweet up because uh there's been a lot of chatter on on the different social media is how um state's home schedule is not the greatest. Um, that all the good matchups are you know either on the road as true road games or or neutral site games, um, specifically the two in the ACC against the fellow triangle guys, and then you have the Tennessee game here that is gonna be played in um Nashville, and then the Mississippi uh return neutral site, which I believe is gonna be in Biloxi if I if I remember correctly. But uh Leighton, are you are you back here? Well, I'm here, but but but but but the the layout's been kind of screwed up here, so I'm just letting I'll let you I'm producing the background right now. I'm a ghost right now. Okay, all right, I don't see you. Um yeah, so Michelle goes, is Nashville neutral for Tennessee? Well, Greensboro was last year for us, right? So on paper it is, on paper it's neutral, right? And and and and Ethan, I kind of want to get your thoughts here because I know you're a big RPI guy and and all of that. Uh I are you I I want to I want to ask you from a fan perspective, how do you like this? And then from a basketball, get our butts in the tournament perspective. Uh so give me your give me wear your fan hat first. Like, do you like these matchups? Well, I'm I'm old and wash. I don't go to as many games as I used to. If I was still in school, yeah, you know, you'd like to have a game like this. You had Kansas last year. I like how you say you're old and wash, you're barely what, 30? I'm not I'm not 30 yet, but thanks. So uh even worse. Uh Greg would know what old and wash looks out, right, Greg? Yeah, you can see it like uh so yeah, you like that. But on the flip side, like Nashville's a cool place to go see a game, right? Like how many times are you gonna see NC State play Nashville? That I we should probably default to you on that, Greg, because I can it'll be twice in within two months since we play bandy. With the football game, right? Yeah, yeah. So I can safely assume you'll be there. That's a fun place to go, you know. So from that perspective, it's nice from the tournament perspective. Look, people don't want to hear it. You don't want to play any home games, like you just like it's just not beneficial to me. The gap between a top 75 versus a top 25 or top 30, I guess, being a quad one game. I I mean, if I was in charge of the schedule, you Wouldn't play any home games. I know so people would hate me. But um from that perspective, yeah, it's hugely beneficial. Like to me, top 75 is like it's pretty, it's a slam dunk, pardon the pun. It's everybody, like that's that's 75% of the ACC, and then again, top 30 is like 25%. So there's just such a wide range of teams, and now Tennessee, you know, you're not worried about Tennessee being outside of even the top 30, you know they'll be up there, so they're a little different from that perspective. But Mississippi Mississippi is the is the case that yeah, yeah. And they almost they almost crept back up into quad one last year. They did at the at the very end in the conference tournament. Yeah, um, and so you're right, like oldness, and they'll have that old miss neutral site game, that would be beneficial. Um, so this one, this one you could get away with playing home and away, yeah, but um you know, neutral to me is the same. Well, no, see now see this is

ACC Basketball Schedule — The Road Gauntlet (No Home UNC or Duke)

44:54

where you might be wrong because the return trip for them may not be a quad one, right? And so there's the yeah, so there's so you're looking at it from state's perspective, correct? You're not as worried about it, but for Tennessee, yeah, and maybe I don't I don't know if there would be a return. Is this just the Justin Ganey thing? No, this is the I'm not sure. I don't think this is sort of this is the return. Oh, actually, no, wait, I got it wrong. I'm thinking women's because women's women's and men women's played Tennessee in Greensboro. And this is the game one of a series, home and homes neutral neutral series, probably correct, correct, correct. Uh too confusing. But uh Macon, give me your thoughts. Like again, from a fan perspective and then a tournament resume perspective, right? Because I to Ethan's point. Yeah, I'm I'm just gonna echo all you said. I'm not gonna go over labor more. I think it's great you're playing in Nashville, fun city to play in. Uh, I do think this is kind of funny how programs are getting smart and finding the loopholes in uh the NCAA's rules of like it's not a home game, so you we're gonna treat this RPI a little bit differently. So yeah, I like it. Um Tennessee's a good team. It's a fun, it's a it's a it's a power four uh non-conference team. So we don't get to play Tennessee a lot. Um that's an added benefit there, so it's just a fun new opponent to see. Um but yeah, I I like it. I'm looking forward to it. I will say our schedule uh already in the non-conference looks kind of tough. So um it'll be I think that's why they had that announcement

Baha Mar Opponents — Wisconsin & Seton Hall Preview

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also to kind of go along with this. We have that tournament we're playing in where we see Wisconsin and Seaton Hall again, potentially. Um, and then you mentioned Old Miss, we'll play them again. Uh, we've got this uh ACC STC challenge, which I know everybody's been clamoring while we play LSU again. Maybe though, because LSU has their so that I did do some research on that. LSU actually has a home game this year in that, and so do we. So that matchup will not happen. Sorry, yeah. I'm personally honestly, thank goodness, because I don't want to see things get ugly kind of thing. So um can they not tweak that though? Like, can they not just be like, you know what, we're gonna make an exception here? Maybe. I I mean they make the rules, so who knows? I mean, but if you if you stay on that schedule, it it would show not to be. But you're right, Ethan. I think that's what the fans will be. I could be wrong. I don't know. Maybe maybe that was the big ten. Yeah, yeah, who knows? Who knows? But uh, yeah, so um, I know Michelle was asking about like Nashville. It actually, I just looked it up. It's it's over two and a half hours from Knoxville to uh Nashville, so but Tennessee is a is a full state program, so right, and you've seen teams do like the fake neutral site game. I think Wake Forest played Michigan in Greensboro. Like, come on now, yeah. Like that's yeah, you know, this is not that, like this is you know, Nashville is a real neutral site here, yeah. Um, so and even Ole Miss and Greensboro, like not really a neutral site, but yeah, hour away, I guess. So so this would be like this kind of is not in that category, yeah. So this would be kind of the same comp uh saying, as much as I hate Charlotte, uh, I think playing there for our in North Carolina neutral sites would be better than Greensboro. I I think it's a better facility, right? I don't I don't I don't think you can argue that. And distance-wise, it's about the same from Knoxville to Nashville as it is from Raleigh to Charlotte. Um just Charlotte's no offense to anyone from Charlotte listening, but Charlotte's kind of a dump. So sorry. Not not afraid to say it. Um, but yeah. Um, that is all the tweets of the week's. Uh, I think we you know we spent a little longer time. I had a couple more, but we can save those for for another time. But uh Mr. Leighton, uh, I know you've been producing over there, but what do you got next for us on on the program? Yeah, trying to here the best I can here. Obviously, appreciate y'all. The house is not burning down. That's the good thing. It's not burning down. We're still here. Uh the baby's burning at all. Not not it, dude. I don't know what's going on here. So baby slept through that. That's good. That's a good sign. A little bit of squirmishing, but but still still asleep. So we're we're doing okay here. So, but with that being said, here, uh, I'm finally gonna be able to show off one of our new cool transition videos too, as well as we do have one for tweets of the week, so we'll just set table that for next week here. But we are gonna move to a new segment called Ethan's Stat Pack, y'all. Let's jump into it. Yep, and uh whenever you can uh get the uh cameras there, we're good. Hey, I'll get better at that, I promise you. It's a lot more to it here. Teffy Talk 3.0 is definitely going to be a challenge here for me from a production perspective. But we'll get down. Also, too, that's a big reason why we could always use some more help too for the production side, too, as well. Here, but with that being said, I do want to give a big shout out and thanks to Alpha Wolf CPR Trainings. Are you looking to get CPR certified for your business, school, church team, or organization? Alpha Wolf CPR Trainings makes it easy for you by bringing the team directly to you. Alpha Wolf CPR Trainings is an American Red Cross licensed training provider offering adult and pediatric first aid CPR

Alpha Wolf CPR Training Ad Read

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Ethan's Stat Pack Debut — Baseball Stats Deep Dive

51:24

a little bit of baseball is probably where the stat be living. I can always find a baseball stat for you. Don't worry. That's right. And then we'll just talk about it here and break it all down. So, Ethan, what's our stat pack uh stat of the week, man? Uh man, I'm gonna I'm gonna go with one of my favorite sayings here. Keep it simple, stupid. So I I think you know what as we get into this and get into segments, like there's gonna be some stats where you're you may be like, man, what what does that even mean? What what are we talking about? Is that a different language? One day I'm gonna be like, what do you got, Rain Man? Right, right. Today is not that day. Today would you guys like to guess how many extra base hits NCSA had this weekend in two games? Five. I was gonna five. Yeah. Oh wow three doubles and two home runs. That's sad. That's sad. And how many how many runs did we actually have scored? It's kind of the part's crazy. Well, and they scored 13 against Auburn, right? So it's it's hard to sit here and complain about the offense in that game, right? Because you scored 13 runs, you expect to be able to win that game. But I look at this game and and we I talked about it going in. I thought NC State's position player group had to win this regional for them. I didn't have a ton of expectations for the pitching. Uh, it played out that way. Uh, and I thought state had the best on paper, the best position player group in this regional. And if they

Auburn Regional Breakdown — Could NC State Have Won?

52:48

showed up, I thought state would have a chance to win. And if they had shown up on Friday, I still think they could have had a chance to win despite giving up nine runs. Um and instead, it's five extra races, three doubles, two home runs. Um it's not gonna play. It's not gonna play. Uh, state finishes second to last in the ACC in uh in home runs. And uh for a team that you know, again, with the injuries you had on the pitching side offensively just wasn't good enough. Um, and so you expected the position part group to carry you here, it didn't happen. UCF's position part group is below average. They had a 97 WRC plus coming in, below average. They were much better than you on Friday night. Auburn was position par group was much better than you, and Milwaukee's position part group is is was better than you. So um to me, look, I know you can point to the pitching, but to me, I look at that and say, how how can you expect to win games? And in particular Friday night game. Again, you scored 13 on Saturday. It's hard to complain about that. The other thing I would point out two stolen bases on the weekend. That's not good. It's crazy. One or the other, like what is your approach to score runs? You've you've got to either play small ball, run, do all those things. Don't even play small ball, just run the bases aggressively or hit for power and state as we've seen, it comes and goes. They did neither, and as a result, they go oh and two. I'm curious. If they didn't approach it either way, what do you think their strategy actually was? That's what I'm getting at. That's how the ambiguous question. Like, I'm worried that their strategy, I'm worried the strategy was just try and string singles together. And I uh like at least for me, that's what happened. So so I have th I have three different stat pack numbers, and I'll let you guys choose. And one directly to win the number. No, but I but I think it's important. You can either choose the number one, the number zero, or the number fourteen. Fourteen's a bigger number. Let's go 14. Oh, we're going based off of the players here, aren't we? Not not numbers. No, I see what you're doing there. Yeah, no, not a player number, but no, okay. Yeah, so 14 left on base. Yeah. The number one, one ACC team, no one ACC

Ryan Marone Injury Impact — The Untold Story

55:08

team left in this tournament. And zero pitches thrown by Ryan Marone. Why do you think about that? That's crazy. Wow. I don't know. It's your stat pack. Which one do you want to unpeel there, Ethan? What was the one again? One ACC team left in this uh tournament. Yeah, that is wild. That is wild. Man, oh Georgia Tech. Oh, I I kind of feel bad for them, to be honest. I do too. Um the one is UNC, right? Yes, yes, right. Yes. Um, one zero fourteen. I mean, you gotta point to the runners left on base, right? And again, this is why I I look at the power because like to me, batting average is just like I know it's the number one stat in baseball. It's not something I value a ton because it just fluctuates so much, it's based on other things, random things like you can't necessarily control batting average as much as you can control hitting for power, as much as you can control stealing bases, and so you're going to get into situations where you leave runners on base. Well, guess what? Against Auburn, state was seven, excuse me, five for nine with runners in scoring position. Five for nine, that's a good number. It is that's a good number. Are they better offensively because they did that on Saturday and not on Friday? No, it's the same offense, it's it's struggling to hit for power, it's not running, it's just oh, conveniently you ended up with a few hits in runners in scoring position, so you scored a few more runs. What can I rely on to score runs when it doesn't matter if somebody's in scoring position? Hitting for power. And so you know, again, I look at that and I don't feel like UCF won that game because they hit with runners in scoring position. I look at it, one they hit three bombs, four bombs, four bombs, and they hit another one off the top of the fence. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and so to me, like to me, very frustrating to see NC State's position player group just get completely outclassed by UCF on Friday because their their position player group is not better than NC State's. No. Well, and especially too as well, because like Greg, I know when we had talked last week, I I had specifically said two things. The key to to the the series, really, for me, was uh um runners

RISP Failures & Runners Left on Base — The Season's Fatal Flaw

57:23

left on base. Can you limit the runners left on base? When you when you get in a position where you can bring a run in, can you take advantage and and make them pay for it? And then number two, I'd I'd guaranteed and said, I have zero doubts in my mind you are going to see NC State's best baseball against UCF because there's not a team in the tournament that has more to port more to play for than NC State. And unfortunately, I don't think you really saw either of those really happen. Uh, you know, I well I I think the end uh the other part that we haven't talked about in the stat pack, right? Is I I'll even throw the number two out, right? You had two key players that were just dealing with some injuries this weekend, and and and in Sherman Johnson, who just gave everything he had, uh, you know, in between innings, he's wearing a heating pad just to kind of stay loose. And then you had Ty Head dealing with a groin. Um, he he definitely wasn't his his self. And you'd gotten some power of late from both of the right. I mean, like hot head was one of your top two. Was he the leader, Ethan, in home runs, or was he second? I think he was the leader, leader, yeah. Yeah, sound was your best player down the stretch. Correct. He was carrying the offense, correct. Um, and then the pitchers, right? But again, we we dealt half the year without those. Um it's just you know, it's just the crap sandwich that we ended up having to be served. And it's over. You we're gonna move on. I think we're gonna we're gonna be better. Um lot of there's a there's still, you know, even with Coach Hart at the helm now, there's still a lot of uncertainty. And again, um, I know Ethan and I, and whoever wants to jump on that conversation, we'll be definitely recording that because there there will be some question marks uh moving forward. Um but not at the coaching part of it. Just what the roster looks like. Yeah, absolutely. And then and to wrap it up uh here for Ethan Stat Pack, you know what's crazy is that Auburn between tonight and tomorrow has to win uh both games. Milwaukee only has to win once and make it to Supers, but yet pair ratings gives Auburn a 90% chance to win the win the reach. Well, they're in the final game right now. Yeah, Auburn. Is this the final game? Yeah, Auburn already won. They they ended up

Anderson Nance Situation — Grinds My Gears

59:39

playing it last night, even though it was listed as this morning. Well, that's dude, I'm telling you. I think it started this morning. Did it start? It definitely has been a nightmare. Oh, yeah. It started at like 11 p.m. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very loud. Yeah, for some reason though, the ESPN app had it starting at 8 a.m. So but that did that didn't happen. Um, that's crazy. Yeah, because I woke, I got to work and I'm like just checking the score, and I'm like, oh, it was already played. That doesn't make sense, but anyway, yeah. No, I think Milwaukee's in real trouble, unfortunately, which sucks. They they've definitely been the Darland. Um, but no gorilla. Yeah, that too. But like, you know, number one, number two both got knocked out of this tournament. Like, baseball is just different, man. It's just different. Um, but anyway, right. Yeah, well, with that being said, speaking about being different, speaking about being a little annoyed, being a little frustrated, it's time to uh switch to a toughie talk classic, grind my gear. You know what really grinds my gears? Whoo is time to bring back. Oh, this is the wrong freaking one. Jeez, Louise. Uh, that's not the right one either. We're gonna we are now accepting applications for producers. Oh man. Hey, you know, hey, you know what the best part is though? Is is is the fact that you know, once again, I didn't have to change the cameras, were perfect, Greg. That's the best part, though. You gotta give me that. The cameras were perfect. Yeah, the rest of it. Yeah, we should have

Grinds My Gears — Layton & Ethan's Takes

1:01:00

done a dry run on this one, but that's okay. No, hey, listen, it's a lot of moving pieces here, it'll all get tuned up here. A lot of good work, Leighton. Listen, I still got I still got the fire alarm in my ear, okay? Like it's it's it's it's hard to concentrate, all right. So with that being said, we're excited to continue this this uh tradition going here with some grind my gears here, and uh, and it's even better too, as well, because uh with these segments, just a heads up is that the whole Tuffy Talk team knows ahead of time what we're gonna be talking about here. So that so every single time we jump into this, we got our grind my gears ready to rock and roll here. And so for me, I'm actually gonna start this off here, and I'm actually gonna pick a grind my gears that has nothing to do with NC State, actually. I'm gonna go a little bit of a different route here, and I'm gonna say it really grinds my gears in the fact that with the with the Vegas Golden Knights, how everybody's talking about right now, well, Vegas swept in swept the hurricanes during the regular season here, so so Vegas has got this thing covered, but yet it's it's like, well, which is it here? Because like, you know, also too in the in in the regular season, Vegas was was eight fifth, what went on an eight and fifteen and five stretch where they were awful. So which is it? You know, are are we are we valuing the regular season when it comes to setting expectations for the Stanley Cup finals or not? I can't tell either. But again, I think I think the Hurricanes are gonna win this thing in five or six here. So but yeah, it just grinds my keyboard. Oh I know, but from a Vegas perspective. What does that tell them even though Vegas won the regular season matchup? But yeah, all I see, all I see on my Twitter on my Twitter feed is is Vegas 2-0 versus Hurricanes in regular season. It's it's ridiculous. It's like uh in and but also two like state coronation here. I'm I'm I'm I'm lost. Well, hey, Rob Rindombo's a huge state fan. Rob Rinworth's a huge state fan. There you go. Exactly. And also who he's married to, right? Uh Nancy State grad. Yes, and who her dad was pretty famous. I don't know. Eddie Beambach. Oh, Eddie Beambach's daughter. Yeah. There we go. All right, so all right, we're moving on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, listen, Mr. Greg. Hey, hey, Stanley Cup Finals is the first time in 20 years. All right. So so

Grinds My Gears — Greg's Take

1:03:15

it warrants one grinds my gears uh for it here. Jeez, Greg, come on. Jeez. So Ethan, what you got for Greg? It could be uh it could be uh Tampa Bay, all right. So uh I need to find a bottle of liquor so I can just start drinking it while you guys talk nonsense. I feel like grinds my gears segments already kind of happen with that uh 14-0 and one stat thing we had a little bit ago. But uh I mean, you know, you to me, it was to me, mine was purely you had a prime opportunity to seize control of the regional this past week and you blew it on Friday night against UCL. I mean, I'm not gonna highlight anymore, but that's that's how grinds my gears. You're like, holy cow, the four seed beat the one seed. We're gonna smoke UCL. And we went up 3-0. And then you just like, I don't know, you just checked out the rest of the game. I don't uh so that's mine. I won't belabor anymore, but yeah, that's mine. Yeah, Ethan, what grinds your gears, bud? Leaving pitchers in too long. Damn it, too. Oh, good one. Did I? I'm sorry. You need to do it. Do you think this is a is it's a Chris Hart thing or or an Avent thing? Well, no, it's definitely not a Chris Hart thing. No, I I don't think Chris Hart. I mean, Greg, correct me if I'm wrong. Um, I don't think Chris Hart has anything to do with the pitchers. Zero, other than maybe helping recruit him, right? So so I I I don't think he has anything to do with that. Now that's gonna be an interesting storyline to follow over the next few weeks because I'm sure that he will be involved, obviously, moving forward. But will

The Report Card — Pitching Coach Decisions Graded

1:04:40

it be a situation where he's hands-off and completely lets the pitch and coach handle it? I don't think that's a situation right now. I don't think this is a Aven is hands-off and Chrysler handles things. I think Avent is very hands-on. Um and so no, I don't think I don't think Chris Hart has anything uh to to do with that. I I think I would imagine it's a question for people who don't know, like, because honestly, I probably want people like I don't recognize I don't fully know and now who controls white from a coaching perspective. And so that's good to know. Hart's going to be the head coach. Leading into it, people have concerns about the pitching, it's not a Chris Hart thing. So true. Yeah. I mean it depends on how much you trust your pitching coach, right? Like the it's like it's like saying a head coach of a football team, he might be offensive minded or defensive minded, but he's gonna tell you, hey, you know, if he's a defensive minded guy, he's still gonna say, Hey, go for it on fourth and one, right? And I think the manager, the head coach of baseball is like, hey, go get him, he's done. Right. Uh now where where I think go ahead. I've talked a lot. Like now, to like to me, like just looking at the numbers, Consiglio this year finishes with a six nine, six point nine zero ERA. Nice. He was struggling though on that on Saturday. Like he he absolutely Was he absolutely was. I don't know if it I don't know if he had a bug or if it was just the heat that was getting to him, but it was something, yeah. But he the third time this year that he was just absolutely left out to dry, maybe even more. Wake Forest, three and a third innings, eleven runs allowed. North Carolina, four innings, ten runs allowed. Five of them, five of them were earned. Uh Auburn, a third of an inning, eight runs allowed. You can even throw Virginia Tech out there, four innings, seven runs allowed. I I don't know how you can leave a guy out there. If he's not getting out, he's not getting out. I don't care what the rest of your what you're scared of the rest of your bullpen. If the guy's struggling, help a brother out. And it just obviously he's one example, but to me, I mean his ERA, season ERA going into that Wake Four series was a 275. And then you have

Cooper Consiglio Report Card — ERA & Usage Discussion

1:06:53

those four outings over the last month and a half, and it balloons up to a six six nine zero. I hope for his sake that you know the the the draft guys and the pro scouts understand the context there. They do because they they do, right? And they're not just looking at ERA. Man, I feel like I don't feel like that's an accurate representation of how he pitched at all. This year, obviously, obviously in this game he was he struggled, but over the course of the year, a 6.9 and zero ERA is not indicative of how Cooper can single pitch. What grind your gears, bud? I I guess I go back to that number zero, like zero pitches thrown by Ryan Marone. Um, you know, he was out there stretching, looking like he could go. Um everything we heard was that he could go. Um the word was 45, 50, 55 pitches somewhere in that neighborhood. So, you know, those would have been nice to have. I if if all that was true that that I heard, you know, if it if it was absolutely was, and I have no reason not to believe it. So how do you not go to him when you cut the lead to three at 10 to 7 in the Auburn game, um where you needed you know a couple of shutdown innings to kind of catch the last three runs. And and we did catch him, right? We got to 13 runs in that game. Um, you know, again, I don't know. Um, and so I'm I'm kind of piggybacking here uh after after Ethan on this, but I I think you can expand it even further, right? Like I just think it just felt like over the last couple of years that at times, and again, it's easy to armchair quarterback this thing and look at it after the fact, but these squads were too good not to get more from their pitching staff. And and and I and I don't know what caused that, right? Is it mismanagement? Is it not using guys properly and effectively in the roles that they could be you know aligned to? I don't know. So again, that's you know, Ethan mentioned one of his storylines. My storyline is how is the pitching staff going to look moving forward? Because again, I don't think it's a talent issue. When you go back and look at the the pitchers that were in this draft class, um, a couple of them have moved on, but like we had dudes in this draft class uh that came through. Um so yeah, that's my grind, my gears is you know and and I look back at la like I look back

What Does a Healthy NC State Baseball Roster Look Like?

1:09:14

at last year. It's like, you know what? This year you lost Marone and Duden 100. I don't I don't expect you to go on a run there. It opened up for you this weekend because Auburn lost game one. They're gonna run the table here, and it probably wouldn't have mattered. It opened up for you. But last year, you had Marone, you had Dom Fritt and you had a really nice year. You had Anderson Nance with an unbelievable year out of the bullpen. You had Jacob Duden throw 30 innings for you. 30 innings. You had uh you had Derek Smith who who didn't pitch for you at all, basically. You had uh Andrew Schachtner in the bullpen, like who had a great year, and you didn't do anything like to me. This like I get it, this year stuff happens, but to me it looks it makes me look back at last year where it was the same same roster, but healthy, and with a couple extra bullpen arms, and you you you still didn't really have anything to write home about it afterwards. Same result, actually, worse result because you didn't even win a game in this regional. True. Yeah, that that that's a that's a grind my gears by itself for sure. Uh if you were to imagine and because that that kind of piggybacks into the other grinds my gears is all the trolls saying, see, NC State shouldn't have been in the tournament. See, they went the O win too. That they'd agreed, it looked like to me. It looked like they agreed. No, absolutely, 100%. Now and the opposite, like thank you, thank you to all the seniors and grad guys on this roster. Thank you to

Players Leaving for the Draft — Who's Coming Back?

1:10:45

the junior class that will be turning pro. Um, that would include Ty Head, even though he's not a junior, but just the like those dudes, like great, great guys on and off the field. Uh you know, you don't hear you don't hear state baseball players typically getting in trouble. Um, you know, just again back to Elliott Avent and the testament that the program that he runs. Um so yeah, definitely we'll miss miss those guys. Yeah, no, 100%. And uh by the way, too, we also appreciate Weed Man Jones pointing out this his uh favorite professional podcast, laughing face. So appreciate that, we Jones as well. So uh again, man, uh it's it's exciting times here for sure. Excited of what's to come here with uh Tuppy Talk 3.0 here for sure. Um, but also too, as well. Uh, you know, definitely hope uh, you know, well, no, we know for sure we'll see Coach Avon here at uh at Doakfield uh up in the stands with the rest of us here next season. It'll be a lot of fun, and uh we'll definitely talk a lot about in terms of what to expect with Coach Art here over these next few weeks here, especially as we head into uh this uh offseason, which I guess that's another grinds my gears is the fact that in state baseball couldn't make this off season or make this postseason as long as possible just so that way we can shorten the the offseason, you know, for for NC State Athletics. That would have been nice, but you know I don't know about you guys. I feel like I need a break. Like you've been running, and not to say obviously you didn't want

NC State Non-Revenue Sports Shoutout — Cross Country National Champs

1:12:12

the baseball team to go to Omaha, but I mean you start what the first week of September, and you just go and go and go for nine months. It's not even before September now. Like typically we have a week the last week of August. Yeah. Well, and it's it's been a really month, yeah. We got three months in football, and then you do it again. Well, and and and and to be honest, too, again, and we've talked we've we've kind of talked about this, Ethan, a little bit as the season's gone, but it's been a a I don't know, rough year is not the word, rough athletic year is not the word, but uh like it's a marathon. Yeah, I mean it's not rough. We're only like one of like six or seven programs that made a bowl game, women's basketball tournament, men's basketball tournament, and in a regional. I mean, like, yeah, well, and that's not even including the national championship we won in in cross country. Well, it it is in terms of the fact when you weigh in the ups and downs you saw with football, you know. But that's being a Wolfpack fan. Like, we're gonna have that shit every damn time. Well, I know, but but you know, definitely I think I think with all the sports, you saw high times, but you also saw pretty pretty extreme low times, too, for sure. It's it's it's been it's been across the board for for all the sports this year, which you know it's just like you said, it is what it is, you know. And then but but yeah, no, it's been hey, it's you know, defin definitely better times to come here for sure, especially this upcoming season. Feeling really good about football, uh excited

Final Thoughts — Baseball, Basketball & Football Outlook

1:13:35

to see what it's gonna be like with Instate Baseball under Coach Hart. Uh, excited for Justin Ganey. We're gonna be talking a lot about that here during this offseason. Here, it's gonna be a lot of fun here. Uh, but making dude. Oh, I was gonna say the one thing we didn't really talk about was women's basketball. We had a couple of coaches, one retire, one take a job at Illinois. That's gonna look a lot different. We have a coach coming in from Campbell. We didn't really break, I meant to get those in the tweets of the week, and I just I forgot about it. But you know, lots of changes all around in NC State Athletics. Yeah. So with that being said, Wolfpack Nation, we'll wrap it up there. So we just want to say thank you so much for for joining us. Uh, excited again about what's to come. Uh, definitely too as well. Uh, you know, send us comments, send us thoughts around uh, you know, what you like, what you don't like, what you want to see more of, what you want to see less of, all in between here for sure. Again, we definitely want to make this uh uh a live show that you uh want to tune in for every Monday night here and join us here, talk all things in C State. Uh, but also too as well, definitely looking forward to uh you know what's to come here with the pre-recorded content with our Patreon too, as well. So we'll make sure to tweet out a link to our Patreon as well. Again, only five bucks a month, so extremely you know uh affordable uh and uh some amazing content there, and it's only gonna get better and better, too, as well, the more we extend it here.

Patreon Launch — Sign Up Now (Less Than a Latte!)

1:14:52

We need to put a hashtag on that, like for the five dollars a month. We should do hashtag less than a latte. Less than a latte a month, yeah, even better. Yeah, no, and we don't even have to play that sad dog music. Sad dog music. Oh, you know, the Sarah McLaughlin song, you know, you better rescue the doll. Like, we don't need to play this. Yeah, we don't even have to play that. Just give us the five bucks. That's right. But you can save a life. You can you can hear a toughie talk tweet. Well, Ethan, excited to have you on, brother, for sure. It's gonna be a lot of fun here. And then also, too, we still we still like we still need to get you some toughie talk swag too, as well, man. Uh you got you gotta join in here with us, bud. So uh, but with this so with that being said, again, so

Subscribe, Follow & Sign Off

1:15:37

Patreon link will uh come here. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Also, to make sure if you haven't already, make sure to hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. Uh some amazing content here really supports the channel a ton. Uh, make sure to hit that like button if you haven't already. If you listen to us on iHot Radio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, whoever listens to us, do us a big, big favor, leave us a five star review. Make sure to give us a follow down on Twitter. But with that being said, y'all will see y'all soon. And as always, go pack y'all.